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Doctors in dock over Hyderabad techie's 'height' surgery

Updated: Apr 7, 2016, 09:03 IST

Representative image.

HYDERABAD: Taking suo motu cognizance of the controversial height gain surgery performed on a 23-year-old city-based techie Nikhil Reddy at Global Hospitals, the Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) has summoned the doctors involved in the procedure.In a notice issued by TSMC on Wednesday, they asked the doctors who performed the surgery to appear before its ethics committee on April 20 to explain their stand on what they called an “unusual experimental surgery on a young person“. Sources said that the TSMC was forced to take up the case after several members of the medical fraternity raised ethical issues as to why the team led by G Chandra Bhushan, the chief orthopaedic surgeon, agreed to add three inches to Nikhil Reddy's existing height of 5 feet 7 inch, which itself is considered the standard height for Indian males.

“Those who performed the surgery on Nikhil Reddy have been asked to appear before the ethics committee of TSMC to explain why he was selected for the limb-lengthening technique (Ilizarov technique) in the first place as there seems to be no such emergency in the case. (The) 5'7'' (figure) is not short stature,“ said Dr E Ravindra Reddy, chairman, TSMC.He said that the ethics committee of TSMC would take a final call based on the surgeons' response.

It may be recalled that police traced Nikhil Reddy, a software engineer working for a firm in Banjara Hills, to Global hospitals at Lakdikapul on Wednesday based on his mobile phone call data after his parents lodged a missing complaint with Petbasheerabad police. For the surgery worth Rs 7 lakh, Nikhil paid Rs 3 lakh and made his friend give consent for the procedure.

The Orthopedic Association of South Indian States (OASIS) has also taken cognizance of the case and has constituted a technical committee for an internal probe into the case on three points. First, whether the patient actually needed to undergo the surgery using Ilizarov technique for cosmetic reasons. Second, the technical competence of the surgeon involved and third, to find out whether the surgery was done as per the rule book.

“The OASIS committee will interact with the patient and the surgeons involved in the case and decide whether there is any need for standard protocol to be put in place to guide orthopedic surgeons when they go for Ilizarov technique for cosmetic reasons,“ said Dr P Vijayachandra Reddy, secretary general, OASIS.

Though Ilizarov technique is a medically proven limb-lengthening technique, Dr Reddy said that it is mostly performed in cases where pathological reasons are found such as when one leg being shorter than other or on a polio-afflicted patient facing mobility issues or someone who has met with an accident with multiple fractures.

In case of cosmetic reasons, Reddy added that Ilizarov technique is rarely used. Not only are ethical issues a deterrent, but failed cases may land doctors in legal trouble. Limb lengthening procedures can lead to several complications like infections at the site, he said. “Our members do get requests for limb-lengthening procedures but we generally discourage them as not all need to undergo such procedure. However, there is a thin line between what is ethical and what is unethical,“ Reddy said.

Dr K Ramesh Reddy, Medical Council of India member, sought to classify the Nikhil Reddy case as a classic example of throwing ethics to wind. “Legally, the procedure may be right to perform on a major but ethically it was not correct for the surgeon involved to do it on him. We generally perform a procedure to treat fractures and here is a case where bones were broken for a cosmetic procedure on a young person,“ he said.

Times View

The decision to summon the doctors who carried out the surgery is a welcome move.The hospital should have acted responsibly and consulted his parents, since he is just 23 years old. A thorough probe must be ordered and strict action taken for this unethical procedure

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